Harness for bedclothes



Jan. 30, 1940.

M. E. MULLOY 2,188,576

HARNESS FOR BEDCLOTHES Filed Sept. 1]., 1939 /5 J I f- 3 L k I 0 lm/entarr Mary Elizabefh Mufloy 5 Whitehead Voy/ per/M I Patented Jan. 30, 1940 UNHTED STATES PATENT OFFICE HARNESS FOR BEDCLOTHES Mary Elizabeth Mulloy, Denver, 0010. Application September 11, 1939, Serial No. 294,258

6 Claims.

This invention relates to devices for harnessing bedclothes to mattresses.

Objects of the invention are to provide an apparatus which will effectively secure the bedclothes to the lower or foot end of the mattress and to provide a device for such purpose which shall be: (a) generally soft or pliable throughout and substantially free of all metal or other unyielding parts or members; (b) substantially free of sharp or rough edges or points; (a) of the utmost simplicity in construction and application; (d) very inexpensive; (e) exceedingly durable; (f) foldable into very compact form, and which shall (a) combine all of the foregoing characteristics into a device of utmost efficiency in securely harnessing bedclothes to the foot end of a mattress without danger of damage to the clothes from the application of the device and practically without danger of damage to the clothes from inadvertent pulling of the clothes while harnessed.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, all of which will more fully hereinafter appear, the invention comprises certain novel constructions, combinations and arrangements of parts as will be now fully described and claimed and as illustrated in the accompanying illustrative drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective of the foot portion of a mattress with bedclothes harnessed thereto by the harness embodying this invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragment of the harness showing the main fastening means.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4 is a top plan of the harness in the same shape or position as when applied in use, the mattress and bedclothes, however, not being shown in this figure.

The invention is illustrated as applied to a bedclothes-covered mattress It and comprises a belt H of relatively soft, pliable material such as webbing, of suitable width, say one or two inches, of a length somewhat more than sufficient to encircle an ordinary mattress with the ordinary quantity of bedclothes thereon, the ends of the belt being provided with suitably adjustable fastening means, such as buckle I2 carried by one end of the belt, holes l3, suitably spaced, being provided in the other end of the belt, whereby the belt may encircle the clothes-covered foot of the mattress and be drawn and fastened thereabout as tightly as desired.

I further provide a plurality of straps [4 adapted at their ends to engage belt II at the 55 top and bottom of the mattress and, intermediately to engage the clothes which project downwardly over the foot end of the mattress. Various means may be used for attaching the straps to the belt, a convenient and preferred form of attachment being to loop one end of the strap 5 around the belt, fastening the end of the strap to the bodyof the strap itself by sewing or other suitable means, as generally indicated at l5, and looping the other end of the strap around the belt and providing the end andthe web of the m strap with a snap catch indicated at l6.

It is preferable to have the loops of the strap slidingly engage the belt so that when the belt is in place, as illustrated in Fig. l, the straps may he slid along the belt in either direction andl5 adjusted to the desired position, such sliding being preferably done while either the belt or the strap is sufiiciently loose to permit such sliding without disarrangement of the bedclothes.

Obviously the straps may be slid entirely off the belt and rolled up with the belt into a single compact roll.

Obviously also the sewed loop of the strap may be positioned on either the top or bottom reach of the belt when in place on the mattress, the snap-fastened end being passed around the end of the mattress and looped around the other reach of the belt and snap-fastened in position.

It will be understood that if a simple belt be used the bedclothing will be bound tightly to the edges of the mattress, but the center portion of the upper and lower reaches of the belt will not have a sufiicient pressure upon the mattress to hold the clothes securely in position unless the belt be pulled so tightly as to bulge or unduly compress the mattress. Moreover, in the case of short bedclothes which would not reach around the foot of the mattress and be engaged by the bottom reach of the belt, the bedclothing would become loosened at the center and disarranged. To obviate these difficulties and to provide a secure harnessing of the bedclothes at all points and evenly throughout, and to provide such even and secure fastening without unduly tightening the belt, and to provide such fastening even when the bedclothing extends only part way over the foot of the mattress, I provide the plurality of straps above-mentioned, which securely bind the end portions of the bedclothing to the foot end of the mattress and which straps automatically tighten over the foot of the mattress as the belt is tightened around the mattress.

It will be noted that the entire device may be constructed of relatively soft, pliable material of a very inexpensive kind and. still of great durability; that the application of the device to a clothes-covered mattress, to form an efiective harnessing of the clothes to the mattress with a substantially uniform pressure throughout, is

a very simple matter, and that the harness can be readily separated by sliding the straps from the belt, and the whole may then be rolled into a simple, compact roll. It will further be noted that the clothes will be held to the mattress by a substantially uniform binding pressure through-.- out, and that there are no stifi or unyielding parts or portions of the device to exert a rigid and unyielding pressure at any particular point which might result in tearing of the bedclothing by a sudden, inadvertent pulling of the same. Also there is substantially no metal in contact with the bedclothing and there are no sharp edges or sharp points to engage the clothing and subject it to the danger of tearing.

While I have herein disclosed and, in the drawing, illustrated many details of construction, I am not to be confined to such details, because various modifications or equivalents will occur to those skilled in the art.

Obviously the harness may be used to harness an under sheet to the head end of the mattress as well as to harness the bed clothes to the foot end of the mattress as above described.

I claim:

1. In a device for harnessing bedclothes to mattresses, a length-adjustable belt adapted to encircle a bedclothes-covered mattress and a plurality of straps having both ends in engagement with, but slidable longitudinally of said belt, whereby when the belt encircles, near its end, a bedclothes-covered mattress said straps will extend from the top reach to the bottom reach of the belt around the end of the mattress and bind the clothes to the end portion of the mattress.

2. In a device as defined in claim 1, belt and straps formed of relatively soft or pliable material.

3. In a device as defined in claim 1, each end of a strap being looped about the belt to provide a sliding engagement with the belt, the one loop of each strap being permanent and the other loop being adapted to be opened.

4. In a device for harnessing bedclothes to mattresses, a length-adjustable belt adapted to encircle a bedclothes-covered mattress and a plurality of straps having one end in engagement with but sliclable longitudinally of said belt, the other ends of said straps being attachable to and detachable from said belt when the belt is fastened.

5. In a device as defined in claim 4 said belt and straps formed of relatively soft or pliable material.

6. In a device as defined in claim 4 said straps being adapted to be removed from the belt by sliding the strap oiT the end of the belt.

MARY ELIZABETH MULLOY. 

